


Making Something New

by harpydora



Category: Friends at the Table (Podcast)
Genre: Fluff, M/M, Spring in Hieron Spoilers, brief mention of Lem/Fero, brief mention of Samol/Hitchcock
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-14
Updated: 2018-10-14
Packaged: 2019-08-01 18:57:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,723
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16289978
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/harpydora/pseuds/harpydora
Summary: Samol knows he's not an unattractive man—when he chooses to be a man—and he can see the way Fero looks at him sometimes. But Fero keeps a respectful distance, and even though Samol is pretty sure he knows where this is going, he knows he has to let Fero come to him on his own terms. Fero's not the kind of person who deals with other people's terms very well at all.Which is fine. Samol's a patient man. Days, weeks, months—hell, even years—just a blink of an eye. Samol can wait.





	Making Something New

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you Madelyn for the title, thank you Annie for letting me type the first scene in your direction, and thank you Austin and Keith for my life.
> 
> No betas, we die like men!

Samol knows he's not an unattractive man—when he chooses to be a man—and he can see the way Fero looks at him sometimes. But Fero keeps a respectful distance, and even though Samol is pretty sure he knows where this is going, he knows he has to let Fero come to him on his own terms. Fero's not the kind of person who deals with other people's terms very well at all.

Which is fine. Samol's a patient man. Days, weeks, months—hell, even years—just a blink of an eye. Samol can wait.

It's about four months on, at dinner, when Fero finally says something. "You're a guy and a dragon and a planet, right?" And then, as if the second question were a natural extension of the first, Fero asks, "Have you ever kissed anyone?"

The question doesn't catch Samol by surprise—he's been waiting for something like it for a while now—so he just laughs. "I've kissed a few people. You could say that any time someone fell face-first in the dirt, I was kissin' 'em, but I know that ain't what you're askin'. Last man I kissed was a long time ago, 'fore the Erasure. Wayward fella. Liked to dance. Him and his brother, they helped me build a few things, once upon a time."

"Oh," Fero says. He's quiet for a moment, and Samol wonders if the fact that he's dallied before has scared Fero away. But Fero glances back over at him. "D'you ever... miss it?"

"Sometimes," Samol admits, both because he knows that's what Fero wants to hear and because it's the truth. "Missed it a little more when I was younger, but not so much lately. Had other things on my mind. But if I stop and think about it, I'd say I still miss it a little."

He catches Fero's expression as it goes thoughtful, then shuttered. Ah. Boy might've been ready to ask the question, but he wasn't quite ready to get an honest answer.

That's alright.

Samol can wait.

*

It's about five and a half months on when the subject comes up again. Samol's shed his human form and is curled up in a patch of fake sunlight as his dragon self. The facsimile of a sun isn't the same, and it's harder for its light to warm his old bones, but he makes do with what he's got.

Fero, the fool that he is, has decided to climb up one of Samol's hind legs. He settles himself into the crease where the leg meets his body as if he belongs there and sighs. "Whatcha doing?"

"I  _ was _ restin'," Samol grumbles with a huff. "What about you, boy? What do you think  _ you're _ doin'?"

"Dunno," Fero says. He puts his hands behind his head and squints up at the sky. "Maybe I'll take a nap."

"Here." Samol is too incredulous for the word to come out as a question.

"S'comfy," Fero says. "Nice and warm, not too hard, not too soft."

Samol snorts a breath out his nose. Of course  _ this _ would be how Fero tries to start touching him: all at once and in the most annoying possible way. "You're just lucky I don't feel like movin'. And that I ain't felt the need to eat anybody since before the last time I kissed a man."

Fero goes very still for a moment before he shifts into a different position against Samol's flank. "What's that like?" he asks.

So, here's the real reason Fero's all cuddled up to his side. Samol  _ is _ a little surprised this time. He hadn't expected to revisit this particular subject for a while yet. He's not convinced Fero's ready for an honest answer this time, either.

"Well, people're a lot stringier than you'd think. Give you heartburn and their bones get stuck in your throat. Can't say I recommend it."

"Gross," Fero says, surely making a face. Samol doesn't feel like lifting his head to see what kind of face he's making, though. He continues, "No, I meant the other thing."

"The kissing thing?"

"... Yeah."

"Ain't you ever kissed before?" Samol asks before he can stop himself. He knows the answer; there's nothing that happens on Hieron without him knowing about it. It's cruel to make Fero say it.

But if Fero thinks that it's cruel, his tone doesn't show it. "Once. But the guy had tusks and turned out to be the worst person ever, so…" He trails off.

"I met a man like that. He flooded my house, broke my guitar… Don't blame you for thinkin' he's the worst."

Fero laughs, and Samol can't quite tell if it's bitter or not. "Yeah! He almost got us all killed this one time because he had to go talk to this baker guy he had a swordfight with. Who the hell does that?"

"Lem King," he says in the same way that he might swear.

"Lem Fucking King," Fero agrees.

*

It's only two weeks later when the subject comes up again. They're walking in the fields around the felled tower, Samol shortening his stride just a little to make it easier for Fero to keep up. They've almost made it back to the tower's base when Fero says, "You never answered my question."

"Gonna have to be more specific, boy. Lotta questions of yours I ain't answered."

Quiet, as if he's embarrassed, Fero says, "You know. The kissing thing."

There it is. Sooner than Samol expects, but not so long in coming that he's forgotten what he planned to say. "It was nice. He was a little soft, but I liked that just fine. Meant he didn't mind it when I wanted to take it slow." He stops and turns to look at Fero. "Why d'you want to know?"

Fero's face goes pinched in the way that Samol knows means he's thinking. It's not a closed-off expression, so Samol guesses he's at least ready to hear the answer he got, but whether or not he's ready to act… That remains to be seen.

"What, can't a guy just ask a question?" Fero asks, settling on indignance as a response.

Samol heaves a sigh. Oh well. Maybe some other time.

*

Some other time is a little more than seven months after Fero arrived. Samol may be a patient man, but Fero has the uncanny knack for burning through that patience like a wildfire burns through dried leaves.

He's in his dragon form, trying to bask and enjoy the quiet day, but Fero has taken it upon himself to nap with him while Samol rests under the sun. Under normal circumstances, it's not an issue, but Fero just will not settle down. He's worse than a cat trying to get comfortable on a pillow; constantly shifting and sliding and looking for some mythical perfect position that is probably not even physically possible.

Samol knows what's bothering him. It's the same thing that's been bothering him for months now, except this time he's taking it out on Samol himself.

"You never did answer my question, boy," he growls, startling Fero into stillness.

"Uhh… what?"

He flashes Fero the draconic version of a toothy grin. "Why d'you want to know what it was like the last time I kissed?"

Fero looks stricken, like he's been caught sneaking cookies out of the jar. "Uh, I don't remember asking you that," he lies.

The part of Samol that's been alive since time immemorial says that he shouldn't push. He should back off and let Fero come to him on his own. The part of Samol that's had Fero crawling all over him when all he wants to do is rest in the sun, on the other hand… 

"I think you were askin' the wrong question," Samol rumbles. "I think the question you were  _ wantin' _ to ask was somethin' more like, 'What's it like to kiss you?' Or am I wrong?"

"Kissing you would probably be pretty weird," Fero says shakily. "You don't even have real lips."

"I can fix that," Samol says, and does so. Fero falls the few feet from where he'd been perched on Samol's body that no longer exists, landing with an indignant  _ oof. _ Maybe it's a little petty, but Samol can't help but chuckle at that before approaching Fero and offering him a hand up. "I got lips now, and no tusks. You wanna try askin' your question again?"

There's a moment where Fero's expression is unreadable, where he just stares at Samol's offered hand and doesn't say anything. It's a moment that's long enough for Samol to start doubting what he's done, for him to wonder if he's gone and scared away the best company he's had in years.

But Fero takes his hand and pulls himself to his feet. His fingers are warm, his palm calloused, and he doesn't let go of Samol's hand once he's standing again. When he opens his mouth again, his words are more sure. "Okay. Fine. What's it like to kiss you?"

"You're in luck," Samol says, bending down a ways. "I'm of the mind to let you find out." And he presses his lips to Fero's.

The kiss is clumsy, mostly on Fero's part. It's obvious he's only ever kissed one person and that that person was unfortunately Lem King. But he's enthusiastic in a way that Edmund never could be, and that's like a breath of fresh air. When Samol straightens (he can't kiss Fero by bending down like that, not at his age), Fero's face is flushed and he's grinning.

"Was it everything you were hopin' for?" Samol asks, returning the grin.

"Well, it was a lot better than I figured kissing a crotchety old dragon would be," Fero responds. Samol casually swats at him, but there's no real intent behind the gesture. Fero ducks it easily.

"You call me 'crotchety' again and see what that gets you."

"Will it get me another kiss?"

Samol rolls his eyes. The next few months unfold in his mind, a never ending stream of requests for kisses. It's… not the worst future he can imagine. He returns his attention to Fero. "No. You want me to kiss you, you gotta ask for it."

Fero huffs. "Fine. Deal." He pauses, then adds, "Can you kiss me again?"

Samol does.


End file.
